the obligatory w00tstock post

Everything I could possibly say about w00tstock has already been said by Paul and Storm, who made a lovely list, and Molly, who made a comic that captures exactly how I felt the whole time we did our shows.

I loved feeling the terror and exhilaration of trying something totally new (The Trade, with music) that was raw and unrehearsed enough to allow for surprises every night.

I loved how totally geeked out we all were to be working with each other, too. I mean, I knew it would be cool to meet Adam Savage – the guy's a freakin' genius, after all – but I was unprepared for how completely and utterly cool, kind, and enthusiastic he was. And his 100 wishes are wonderful, especially that he, like I, wishes for his children to have careers that they love.

I loved feeling like we were creating something unique and special, that people would be talking about long after it was finished.

I loved how much fun we had every night, even though I was exhausted down to my bones by the time we finished our last show Wednesday night (actually, Thursday morning).

I loved how wonderful the audiences were at all the shows. Geeks truly are the best crowd, because even when they heckle us (I'm looking at you, Los Angeles front row) it was done with enthusiasm and love. Yes, even the hecklers were, in their own way, supportive.

I loved that we released the entire show under a Creative Commons license, so anyone who wanted to could record and share the show online. There are tons of videos at YouTube and pictures at Flickr, as a result. 

I love that I can blockquote myself right now:

someone recorded all of w00tstock 1.1 from Los Angeles, and uploaded it. It's an audience recording, so you can pretend you are actually sitting at Largo next to the guy who recorded it! If it's the guy I think it was, he had a magnificent pimp hat on. If it's not … well, now you know that there was a guy at w00tstock in LA with a magnificent pimp hat, and you have yet another reason to wish you were there, sukka.

>I love that that recording was done on a freakin' iPhone, and it sounds fantastic.

I saw a post this morning that pretty faithfully recreates the show in Los Angeles from YouTube videos, so rather than try to duplicate that for all three shows, I thought I'd share a couple of my personal highlights, in video form:

First up, a wonderful compilation … almost a montage … from the LA show:

Here I am, recreating the moment when Luke Skywalker saw the smoking hulks of his aunt and uncle. This probably isn't as funny out of context, but if you were at the show, you'll know why I was so amused by this. By the way, the flapping hair in the wind was all Molly's idea, and it killed at all three shows.

Kid Beyond absolutely blew my mind when he performed Wandering Star by Portishead … using only his voice to create loops. If you think this is incredible on video (and it is) you should see him perform live, especially if he brings his video mashups.

Finally, everything Molly did was simply brilliant, and her cover of Toxic is sensational, but I just adore her song about breaking up with Wikipedia:

There's more, of course. Paul and Storm got a lovely pair of, um, undergarments thrown at them in Los Angeles. The acoustic Date My Avatar was great. Jeff Lewis did comedy as Vork, and completely killed. Kasper Hauser made me laugh so hard at the 1.0 show I bruised my medulla oblongata. I've known Chris and Mike forever, but I'd never actually seen them perform as Hard 'n Phirm in person until the Los Angeles show, and I wish I hadn't waited so long to enjoy the majestic wonder of El Corazon live. Josh Cagan seemed a little bemused that we'd added him to the show, but after seeing what he did to just 30 seconds of Roger Corman's Fantastic Four craptacular, I hope he'll come with us for 2.0. And, oh yes, three different versions of The Captain's Wife's Lament, each longer and more ARRRRRRRRRtful than the last. Those two videos (I can't find a video from 1.0 at the moment), do a great job of capturing how much fun we all had together.

When Paul and I talked about w00tstock a million years (or a couple months) ago, we hoped that it would be successful enough to justify the time we would need to put into creating it, we hoped we'd have fun working together, and we really hoped we'd draw enough people to make it worth doing future w00tstocks.

I don't think we ever seriously worried about having fun together, but I was very worried about actually drawing an audience. When we sold out two shows in San Franciso, and only had 20 or so seats left vacant in Los Angeles – where it is notoriously difficult to get people to come out to see shows – we knew that in the future, there will be w00tstock v2.x.

I want to thank everyone who was in the show, and especially everyone who came to watch us, for making the three days of w00tstock so memorable and wonderful. I can't wait to do it again.

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64 thoughts on “the obligatory w00tstock post”

  1. Oblongata, Wil. But I loved reading about how much you had, & I can’t wait to watch all the videos when I get a chance!
    🙂
    -Alicia (@AliciaWag)

  2. You’re welcome, Wil! Glad to be an audience member at 1.0. Ah the memories… the songs.. the iPhones raised bearing lighter-like images..

  4. One day, I'm going to learn how to spell and have a secret lair in a volcano. THEN WHO WILL LAUGH AT ME?! HAHAHAHAHAA!

  5. Amazing job. Amazing cast. Would do business again, A++.
    Thanks for the great show and recording the birthday greeting for my girl.
    I hope you guys do another LA show so she can find out firsthand how awesomely nerdy w00tstock is. Until then, this montage of video and photos will have to do. 🙂

  6. I went the second night in SF. It made me wish I went both nights. … I would definitely see the show again if there were another run.

  7. I’ll still probably laugh, especially because if you’re inside a volcano, I don’t need to be afraid of you. 😉 But it’s all good-hearted, don’t worry.
    -Alicia (@AliciaWag)

  10. Awesome stuff, this page will keep me entertained for the rest of the week. Thank you!
    Slight problem: There seems to be a problem with the “as Vork” link. “Comedy” links to the youtube vid but the next two words are just underlined.

  11. w00tstock Ohio, please! Pretty please?! And, maybe even not Cleveland, but close to me like Wapakoneta. Wootstock Wapak — it has a nice ring to it.

  12. This looks like so much fun – please to come to NYC? Us East Coast geeks are very awesome, I promise! And as an incentive, let’s just say Paul and Storm won’t be the only ones getting underwear thrown at them 😛

  13. Besides reminding me what an old piece of shit my computer is (you know, the whole not having enough RAM for a page to load at a reasonable amount of time because it’s crammed with videos, thank you very much), you thoroughly sound like you had a fantastic time at W00tstock. I’ll have to watch the videos one at a time over at YouTube because of the whole obsolete piece of shit computer ordeal. As always, thanks for sharing.

  15. I agree. Except I think that Wootstock Wooster has an even better ring to it.
    Nothing against Wapak, nice town, just far from me 🙂 I wish cool things like this happened in Ohio.

  18. I laughed so hard I hurt during the show, especially at Adam’s Jamie impression during the final song.
    My favorite memory though, was of my wife and I trying to get a quick signature from you so we could catch BART, and you wouldn’t stop fondling my copy of Memories of the Future because it was the first one you had held. 🙂
    Great show, would definitely go again if you bring it back to SF.

  19. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
    I give you all my most heartfelt congratulations on making 1.X such a success and for having so much fun doing it! I’ve been scrambling around trying to describe the event to friends that didn’t get to come along to the show, but this collection you’ve assembled will give them a nice taste of what they missed and what they will hopefully get to experience next time around…
    I’m happy for you all and grateful that you found a way to bring your unique experience and perspective so close to us. To be in that audience felt like being friends with you guys. I don’t know how you did it, but it freaking worked, man.
    ~Riker

  20. When I listened to w00tstock 1.1 the other week it actually moved me to tears. Happy tears because of the awesome and just what a beyond amazing community the geek community is.
    You live a charmed life Mr. Wheaton.

  21. What I would give to see you guys!! Let me ask you, how in the WORLD do all of you keep from laughing at one another while on stage??? God you guys rock socks!!!!

  23. OK, so who has the correct spelling and/or phrasing? Alicia said it’s Oblongata, you’re saying Oblong Gators and Wil…well who gives a crap what Wil thinks? He’s secretly building a lair inside of a Volcano!
    Wow. I’m really getting this geek snortlaughing thing down to a science!

  25. I didn’t get to see Wil either, but I’m DYING to live in Australia. I’ll hold your place there if you wanna come over here & visit Wil. 🙂
    -Alicia (@AliciaWag)

  27. LOL! That makes it that much more fun! I wish I had half the talent that all of you have. You truly have a gift Wil…you need your own sitcom…maybe a Big Bang Spin off:)

  28. Just watched the first video – my absolute FAVORITE part was the 2 dudes singing pi in harmony… and then the one collapsing to the floor. Made me LOL!!!
    -Alicia (@AliciaWag)

  33. This wonderful show has done two things for me:
    1. It’s reaffirmed that I *shall* return to the West Coast one day, at a date to be determined when you guys sort out version 2… or 3… or 10. Well, one day.
    2. The audio recording is letting me discover some *extremely* awesome artists that I haven’t heard before. I’m only as far through as Molly Lewis’ very cool “breaking up with Wikipedia” song, but I already have two CDs to add to my Christmas present wish-list, undoubtedly with more to come later.
    I guess, even though I’m listening to a recording after the fact, I should say “thank you so much” to you and the rest of the artists for this very entertaining evening. Good luck with 2.0!
    P.S. Can haz UK show, plz? kthxbai!

  34. That recordist/heckler? Laughed a lot like Crispin Glover in Back To The Future on his recordings… And I was a little sad that the video of Adam Savage’s 100 wishes cuts off before he tells the wish regarding Dick Cheney, for reals. Still, put the whole thing on CD and have listened to it daily. So much awesome!

  35. Thanks so much for giving us w00tstock! I haven’t laughed that hard in ….. well I can’t even remember the last time. It was a show that felt like it was made for me and not pandering to the lowest common denominator. So thank you again. And thank you for participating in Project Teddy Bear. I will let you know when your auction is live.

  36. You guys rocked! Thanks for an awesome show in L.A. Thanks also for signing my Memories of the Future. I’d been looking for an excuse to come out and shake your hand and the confluence of the book release and w00tstock was a perfect storm. I can’t wait for y’all to do it again.
    Cheers.

  37. Vancouver w00tstock? I would even settle for a Seattle W00tstock. whats most important is a major expansion of 2.0, hopefully with all the bugs fixed by 2.2 (haw haw), or whenever you get to Seattle.

  39. Here’s an official vote for a Chicago wootstock. Or a Madison wootstock. Either way, we’re gonna have a good time!
    And yes, 2.0 should be a tour that goes past the West Coast so we can see the awesome too.

  40. What’s with the photo of the guy in his underwear viewed through the motel window, at the end of the first montage? I feel like that must be a joke I’m missing.

  42. Oh jeez, Molly – GET A BETTER UKE! I mean I know Flukes are quirky, blah blah blah, but seriously, dude… it’s like having a Bundy when the cool kids have Bach Strads, or having a Squire when everyone else has a Fender. And the price difference nowadays? The Flukes are more expensive…. but at least they’re plastic and laminate.
    And using a pick?? OMGWTFBBQ. Hell, a Kala jazz tenor with the groovy F-holes would be awesome for gigging, cheaper than a frakking Fluke, and look awesome and feel great to play. Bonus: it has a pickup. You need something with a pickup!
    /sorry, I had to vent my spleen there, on behalf of facepalmed uke players everywhere.

  43. The guy in the window was Getting a tattoo done across the street above a strip club. He was getting undressed while we were waiting outside for the doors to open

  46. Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm are playing some dates in the UK in a week or so. I hope it’s a w00tstock-gb alpha release 🙂

  48. We didn't do a DVD this time, but I'll mention it to the rest of the gang for 2.x.
    I have this other crazy idea, though, which may be awesome: streaming a w00tstock show live online for something like $5 or $10. I don't know if it's even possible, but I think it would be so cool to play a show for the whole planet. (Well, those parts of the planet that have high speed internet, anyway.)

  50. First time poster, long time reader. Putting in a bid for Miami or Orlando for 2.x. I know the sun is not all that great for the delicate geeky skin but i seem everyone survived Cali!

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